The outcry over the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's use of steel made in China to replace the upper deck on the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge was understandable . . . at first.

After all, the dearth of good American jobs has been a hot-button issue for several years. Then, too, China has been a fierce rival of the United States as it seeks global dominance.

All things being equal, it would be preferable if the MTA, a public authority, chose an American steel-maker for the Verrazano job.

That's what any number of elected officials have cried as they raced to jump all over this issue. Now, after Republican Assemblywoman Nicole Malliotakis (R-East Shore/Brooklyn) and Democratic state Sen. Diane Savino (D-North Shore/Brooklyn) charged that the MTA was more interested in cutting costs than in safety or creating American jobs, Sen. Charles Schumer has written a letter to MTA chairman Thomas Prendergast decrying the decision.

"If we continue to source to Chinese companies based entirely on bid pricing, they will always win; with the level of government support and over-production, it's impossible to beat their prices," Mr. Schumer's letter said. "If American entities like the MTA don't support a level playing field for American steel made by American steel workers, no one will."

Unfortunately, as with many causes that politicians seize upon, it's not that simple.

The MTA plans to replace the concrete on the upper deck with lighter orthotropic steel deck panels, which can better withstand high winds and last much longer.

The MTA did award the $235-million job to an American contractor, but that contractor decided to use a Chinese steel company to manufacture the steel. Mr. Prendergast insists all of the eight domestic contractors who submitted bids for the project planned to rely primarily on foreign steel companies to make the orthotropic deck plates.

The MTA reached out to American steel-makers, but none of them have the experience or expertise to make orthotropic steel on the scale and timetable this project requires.

The American contractor eventually hired by the agency, Tutor-Perini, tried to engage two domestic steel fabricators, but both declined for technical and/or financial reasons.

So Tutor Perini awarded the fabricating contract to the China Railway Shanhaiguan Bridge Group, which will get the steel from the Angang Steel Group (Ansteel), the number 2 steel manufacturer in China.

Mr. Schumer complains, "State-owned enterprises like Ansteel have an unfair, artificial competitive advantage against American firms, and in the future, the MTA should change its processes to account for this . . . and do everything in its power to avoid purchasing from these companies."

He's not wrong in describing the competitive situation, but he's wrong in his conclusion. What does he mean "change its processes"? Pay more, regardless?

Remember, no American steel companies were willing to do the job according to the MTA's specifications. Should the MTA delay the project, possibly increasing the overall cost by $100 million, to wait for some American company to get up to speed?

That added cost would inevitably be paid by toll-payers and taxpayers who are already overburdened. Pardon the pun, but that would be stealing.

We doubt that these lawmakers, frequent critics of MTA waste, would declare themselves in favor of that.

Demanding that the MTA buy American regardless of cost is not wise advice for an entity already beset by deep money problems.